School Spotlight

Franklin & Marshall College

Location: Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Type: Private
Tell Franklin & Marshall College to revise its speech policies by filling out this form.

Speech Code Rating

Franklin & Marshall College has been given the speech code rating Yellow. Yellow light colleges and universities are those institutions with at least one ambiguous policy that too easily encourages administrative abuse and arbitrary application. Read more
This school has adopted the chicago statement for free speech. This school has adopted the chicago statement for free speech. This school has adopted the chicago statement for free speech.

  • College Life Manual: Student Life Policies- The Student Code

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
    Last updated: April 12, 2019

    Prohibited acts include: 1. Conduct which is unbecoming of a Franklin & Marshall student. Examples include, but are not limited to, lewd or indecent behavior (or sponsorship thereof); physical or verbal abuse or assault; threats; intimidation; harassment; coercion; and other conduct that threatens, instills fear... Read More

  • College Life Manual: Sexual Misconduct/Discrimination/Harassment Policy

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
    Last updated: April 12, 2019

    Sexual harassment is gender-based verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct that has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work or academic performance or that creates a humiliating, degrading, intimidating, hostile, or offensive working, educational, or living environment.Sexually offe... Read More

  • Public Demonstrations and Protests Policy

    Speech Code Rating: Yellow
    Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
    Last updated: April 12, 2019

    Any individual or group seeking to protest at an event must register their request with the College at least 48 hours (or 72 hours if the event is to occur on a holiday or during a weekend) in advance of the event. One or more representatives for the individuals participating in the proposed demonstration must conta... Read More

  • Acceptable Use Policy and User Agreement

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Internet Usage Policies
    Last updated: April 12, 2019

    Any inappropriate email, as defined below, is prohibited. Users receiving such email should immediately contact the ITS Help Desk at 717-358-6789 or helpdesk@fandm.edu. In the case of serious risks or harm, users should contact the Office of Public Safety at 717-358-3939. Examples of the inappropriate use of electro... Read More

  • College Life Manual: Student Rights, Freedoms, and Responsibilities

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
    Last updated: April 12, 2019

    Franklin & Marshall College is a scholarly community whose aim is to create an environment for human learning. Toward this end, students and faculty working together in close relationship pursue not only knowledge but also wisdom. In their mutual devotion to intellectual discovery, each stimulates the other. The... Read More

  • F&M Statement on Freedom of Expression

    Speech Code Rating: Green
    Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
    Last updated: April 12, 2019

    Because Franklin & Marshall College is committed to the ideal of free and open inquiry in all matters, it extends to all members of the College community the broadest possible latitude to express themselves freely and to challenge the views of others.  The College vigorously values the creation and maintenance o... Read More
At present, FIRE has not been publicly involved in any cases at this school.

  • Franklin & Marshall professor: Free-speech-friendly campuses start with education on speech codes and speech code reform

    June 16, 2017

    In a piece published in USA Today last Sunday, Franklin & Marshall College professor M. Alison Kibler argues that, as questions of free speech continue to arise on college campuses, students, faculty, and administrators must evaluate and revise college policies that regulate speech to meet First Amendment standards. FIRE agrees that working to eliminate restrictive… Read more

  • Leadership roundup: How college leaders are answering questions about free speech

    April 25, 2017

    Controversy around free speech on college campuses seems to only be escalating: Charles Murray’s disastrous visit to Middlebury College, the violent response to Milo Yiannopoulos’ visit to the University of California, Berkeley, the shutting down of Heather Mac Donald’s Claremont McKenna College event, and just last week, Berkeley’s attempt to shut down Ann Coulter’s visit… Read more

  • Franklin & Marshall students set example handling controversial speaker

    March 14, 2017

    Earlier this month, while all eyes were on Charles Murray’s disastrous visit to Middlebury College, you may have missed another speaker protested for his talk on a college campus. The protest this speaker encountered, however, led to a very different outcome. Flemming Rose sparked worldwide controversy when he commissioned and published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad… Read more

  • Franklin & Marshall Board of Trustees Approves Freedom of Expression Statement

    February 16, 2017

    This Valentine’s Day, while couples reaffirmed their commitment to one another, Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) reaffirmed its commitment to free speech. On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania college announced that its board of trustees had approved a “Statement on Freedom of Expression,” initially endorsed by F&M faculty last year. The statement is a modified version of… Read more

  • College Trustees Reject Free Speech Statement Approved by Franklin & Marshall Faculty

    May 30, 2016

    The good news is that the faculty adopted a version of the University of Chicago’s exemplary statement on campus free expression last semester. F&M becomes the 13th institution at which a faculty body or the administration itself has endorsed a version of the Chicago Statement since FIRE endorsed it in January of 2015 as the gold… Read more

  • Unjust Sexual Misconduct Policy at Franklin & Marshall College

    May 16, 2011

    We have been writing a lot lately about due process in campus sexual assault cases ever since the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued guidance last month instructing universities that, in order to comply with federal civil rights laws, university judiciaries must apply a "preponderance of the evidence" standard (roughly 51% proof)… Read more